Junkyard Treasure: 1978 Ford Granada Sedan

Ford sold millions of simple, boxy Granadas and Monarchs during the late 1970s

October 4, 2017

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Absolutely unrelated to the European Ford Granada, the North American Granada was built for the 1975 through 1982 model years. Except for the '81s and '82s, Granadas (and their Mercury Monarch siblings) used the chassis design that debuted on the 1960 Ford Falcon, which makes today's Junkyard Treasure a mechanical first cousin to the 1964-1973 Ford Mustang.

Most Granadas and Monarchs had straight-six engines, but this one has the optional 302-cubic-inch (aka 5.0-liter) Winsdor V8 engine. Photo by Murilee Martin

In 1978, the Granada received a 250-cubic-inch straight-six rated at 94 hp as the base engine; this car has the thirstier 302-cubic-inch V8, good for 134 horses. According to the build tag on this car, the rear axle ratio was an absurdly steep 2.47:1, so V8 torque would have been a must-have; with no overdrive transmission available in the Granada, tall rear gears were needed for fuel economy.

Welcome to 1978. The vinyl available in the Granada this year was known as Corinthian Vinyl (no relation to Chrysler's Corinthian Leather). Photo by Murilee Martin

These cars rode and drove like the late-1950s designs they were, but they got the job done and sold well. This generation of Granada wasn't the last use of the 1960 Falcon's chassis design, though, because Falcons were built in Argentina through 1991. Typical of Detroit cars of the era, the Granada was slathered with injection-molded "wood" and "stitching" inside, and the seat-upholstery choices were hilarious.

It's very rare to find a junked Granada that still has the front brake hardware. Photo by Murilee Martin

Because these cars have such mechanical similarity to early Mustangs and their kin, their disc-brake hardware bolts onto those older Fords and is thus worth decent money. That means that someone grabs everything from the spindles out within days (or sometimes hours) of a Granada's/Monarch's arrival at a yard like this.